Elves

Memories of the First, Elven Oral Tradition

In the dark and the void we awoke, our eyes opened to the stars above, and there was color and light and life in the world for the first time. Behold! For we are the First.

Under the trees of a great forest, a living palace of air and light and flowers, humming with the weave of Magic holding it together, the sound of song drifting gently to the ground below. At the top of an impossible spire, a fey light glows with power and knowledge as birds and moths come and go with messages. A love of beauty, nature, poetry, artistry, and above all the power of magical energy. These things are the domain of the elves.

Graceful And Sleek

All elves share a preternatural grace, often appearing hauntingly beautiful to members of many other races. While they are about the same height as humans, they are on average more slender and fine-featured, typically weighing between 100 and 150 pounds. Their coloration tends towards copper and bronze, but can encompass the whole range of human coloration and more, with striking hair of green or gold and eyes like pools of liquid gold or silver. Elves have little body hair and no facial hair. As they age, their coloration often fades slightly, but many are timeless and most other races cannot tell a young elf of 60 from an old one of 750. Elves favor simple but well-tailored and elegantly made clothing.

Timeless And Haughty

Elves can live a very long time, perhaps forever barring accident or injury. The very oldest elves simply fade away by choice, returning to the wild natural world they love. Their perspective on the world is heavily shaped by their ageless nature – events that would trouble shorter-lived races are often seen as beneath the notice of the elves. According to Elven mythology, they were the first sentient race to be created by the Gods. Because of this they see themselves as caretakers of the world; all other races seem like children to them, who need to be guided. Elves strongly believe they have the best interests of the world at heart, but often discount the contributions, abilities, and maturity of non-elves.

Elves are the oldest of the Elder races, and they perceive their power, magic, and wisdom as coming from their connection to the Firstborn, the Living Tree and the Wild Star, representing the joining of growth and destruction, birth and death, wisdom and passion. Their connection to the Firstborn gives them a mystical air, and they will offer thanks and prayers to Aldanor (the living tree) and Elmerca (the wild star).

Wild Homelands

Elves make their home in the wild reaches of the world, weaving elaborate towers and palaces from magical energy and the living world around them. Their skill with woodcraft and magic allow them to hunt, farm, and gather food without leaving a noticeable trace on the wild lands of the home, so travelers coming upon elf cities are usually taken aback by the suddenness with which they emerge out of the landscape. Most elf settlements are relatively small and masked by weaves of fey magic, so visitors or intruders often pass through ignorant of their surroundings. Elves will rarely start a fight, preferring to wait for the tides of history to turn to their side, but when they perceive a danger to the balance of the world they will act with alacrity and bring the full power of their race to bear. Elves very only rarely live among other races, finding the ever-changing world of the younger races (which to elves is all of them) tiring. For most people, elves are creatures of myth and legend, and if they have met one it would have been a notable event in their lives.

The Elven Cycle of Generations

Elven family life and family traditions are structured around the elven cycle of generations. Each elf reaches childbearing years around the age of 150, and, for the next fifty or so years, is able to have children. But fertility wanes around the age of 200 (or a little before, or a little after), and for the remaining hundreds or thousands of years of an elvish life, they can bear no more children. Therefore, elves have distinct, non-overlapping generations, called the ka, which they number. All of the children of a generation are seen as siblings, and the broad bond across the age set is more important than the bonds between two children of the same parents.

When an elf is born they are weak and small, as a human infant, with only the most tenuous connection to Aldanor, the live-giving Living Tree. For the first several years of an elf’s life, as their body grows stronger, they are nurtured and protected by their body parents, typically in seclusion, until, around the age of ten, they are firmly connected to Aldanor, and entwined in the great Tree of Life. This is the Age of Beginning, and it ends with the Rite of Emergence.

A young elf spends most of their childhood, which lasts until around the age of fifty, raised and cared for by their soul parents, amongst their generation-mates. This is a time of learning and play in equal measure and it is when an elf starts to first develop magic. An elf spends much of this time in sleep and dreams, through which much of the deep sense of elven mystery and foresight is imbued by Elmerca. Around the age of fifty, an elf slowly starts to stop sleeping, spending time instead resting their minds in a reflection of their dreams. This is the Age of Becoming, and it ends with the Rite of Awakening.

An elf of fifty is a young adult, in full control of their magic, their mind, and their body. Elves of this age are encouraged to travel and explore, experiment and engage with those outside their community. To some, this means finding other elven lands. To others, it involves a journey to the Feywild. To others, visiting the wild places of the world where only animals walk, and still to others, visiting the human world, or the lands of the other Elder races.

Tragedy and Loss

The history of the elves on Taelgar is one of cycles of loss and grief. Several times over their history, great evils have arisen, and elves have rallied to meet that evil and defend Taelgar. But each cycle has taken a terrible toll on the elves, and with each turning of the world the elves that live to see such times face grief and loss.

For some Elves, this means a further turn inward, and a desire to retreat from earthly affairs and strive for even greater control over magic and nature. For others, it means a turn outward, and the beginnings of an acknowledgment that Elves cannot protect the world alone, which has meant that Elves are increasingly seen in the human world. But no Elf is unaffected, and the beauty and artistry of Elves is often tinged with sadness.

Superior Protectors

Because they see themselves as the caretakers of the world, and the oldest and wisest of races, Elves tend to view other races, even long-lived ones like Stoneborn and Dwarves, as children. Sometimes, this manifests as a haughty aloofness, other times as a caring presence, but it is always hard for Elves to treat other races as equals.